ICE will host town hall about FLETC

Photo by Zack Ponce - Current-Argus
A lady claps during a town hall in Artesia in June when the U.S. Immigrations and Customs announced they would soon begin transporting undocumented immigrants to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Facility.

ARTESIA >> U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will host the first town hall meeting since undocumented immigrants were transported to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia in late June, an event local officials hope will bring clarification to the touchy situation.

ICE began talks with U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-Hobbs, on Thursday morning to discuss the best date, time, and location for a meeting that would give community members the chance to voice lingering concerns about the holding of more than 600 women and children from Central America, said Jill McLaughlin, Pearce's communications director.

Pearce will moderate the event but no additional information was available on Thursday.

Courtesy Photo
U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce will moderate a town hall with ICE to discuss FLETC and the undocumented immigrants who are detained at the facility.

The idea of holding town halls intensified after a child held at the detention center became ill on Tuesday and rumors started that the child had died, making residents uneasy.

Glenn Collier, an Eddy County Commissioner for District 3, said he was encouraged by the news but ICE should have hosted a town hall sooner.

"I think it's good and certainly educational for our people to be able to be heard and give some kind of response to their anxiety," Collier said. "When they (the government) leave the people out, they cannot be heard. That's when there gets to be anxiety, and not just emotion."

Many of the Eddy County Commissioners expressed their gratitude to Pearce for pushing ICE to hold a public meeting.

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Royce Pearson, county commissioner for District 2, said the federal agency should use the stage to clear any and all misunderstandings with the public and elected officials.

Pearson said he was frustrated when the first bus of undocumented immigrants arrived at FLETC because he didn't hear the news until he saw it published in the newspaper. Four days later, ICE finally met with Pearson to discuss the situation.

"A lot of us who are publicly-elected officials feel like mushrooms," Pearson said. "You're basically feeding us and keeping us in the dark. I didn't appreciate that and not being able to answer questions (from constituents) was frustrating."

Pearce has been vocal about the need for ICE to have weekly updates to the public. Currently, ICE holds closed-door meetings with local officials on Tuesday mornings to provide updates about the undocumented immigrants from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala

Pearce compared the need for a town hall in Artesia to the recent radiation leak at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant that created hysteria until the Department of Energy began holding weekly meetings to address any issues with the public.

John Heaton, the chairman of the Carlsbad Mayor's Nuclear Task Force, said he felt the DOE public meetings helped ease some of the outrageous rumors and believes that open meetings in Artesia should do the same for that community.

"I think that our (WIPP) town hall meetings have really enabled the public to understand what's going on," Heaton said. "We've had experts come in and discuss the radiation release and explain the real facts about what's going on. I think having town hall meetings (in Artesia) will enable the public to ask those questions and stop the rumor mill."